Tories launch website to deregulate ‘Red Tape Britain’
Sir Paul Judge, Chairman of the Conservative Deregulation Taskforce, has launched sillyregs.com to get feedback on what's really strangling Britain's small businesses. The independent site has been launched as part of their 'Common Sense on Regulation' campaign.
The website's launch coincides with the Conservative's new deregulation campaign in which Conservative Leader William Hague announced that "The next Conservative Government will be the champion of enterprise and innovation - we will help to make Britain the best place in the world to do business."
Speaking of the necessity to launch the new initiative, he stated "As every person running a business knows, it isn't one single piece of red tape, or one directive from Whitehall, but the sheer volume of red tape that threatens to strangle the life out of so many firms. The burden falls disproportionately on small businesses, the innovators and risk takers on whose success our future prosperity depends."
The independent website states that 'The burden of regulation is getting worse. In the last three years alone there have been new regulations which independent sources say are costing business over £6,000,000,000 every year, that is £10,000 every minute.' It also requests that sufferers of over-regulation submit their personal experiences and concerns, offering to 'raise the most important issues in Parliament and help you to get some real answers.'
Mr Hague also revealed plans in a recent speech to set up a regulation watchdog with the power to reject Whitehall plans if they were deemed 'too burdensome'.
"We will establish an independent Deregulation Commission with significantly increased status and powers," Mr Hague said. "It would be able to draw upon the wealth of business experience found in the Lords and would strengthen the accountability of the Government to Parliament."
William Hague said of the new website "While the name may be light hearted, it carries a deadly serious message. The depressing truth, that this initiative will clearly expose, is that despite the spin, Labour's instincts to interfere and to regulate remain as strong as ever."
The move follows a flurry of initiatives to cut and re-assess existing regulation and proposals over the previous two weeks by Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.
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Richard Powell